Someone owns more than 2,000 instruments. Not a museum. Not a studio conglomerate. One guitarist who started collecting because, as he put it, “cars were too expensive.” That guitarist is Rick Nielsen, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Cheap Trick’s founding six-string eccentric. At his wife’s encouragement, he’s letting go of over 300 pieces through Julien’s Auctions on Oct. 24, 2026, at Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum — with a portion of proceeds benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The Guitars That Built a Legacy
Two headline instruments anchor an auction with genuine historical weight.
The collection’s standout offering is the 2004 Hamer Five Neck Korina electric guitar. Thirty-eight strings across five necks, each designed for a different sonic job: a 12-string, a fretless, a Stratocaster-voiced neck, and a Les Paul Junior-voiced neck. One of only three ever built to Nielsen’s specs, it’s being offered publicly for the first time. Estimate: $175,000 to $200,000.
Then there’s the 1975 Hamer Standard, stage-played on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert in 1977 and at Budokan in 1978 — one of Cheap Trick’s most celebrated live moments. That one carries an estimated value of $200,000 to $300,000. These aren’t wall decorations. They have mileage.
Beyond the Guitars
The broader collection spans vehicles, memorabilia, and at least one tractor.
Other notable lots include:
- A Hamer Californian with a body hole Nielsen punched through himself — he then spun it around his arm and injured himself, and has warned buyers not to replicate the stunt
- A 1955 Ford Thunderbird
- A custom checkered John Deere tractor with a snow plow
- Handwritten lyrics for Cheap Trick’s “Heaven Tonight”
- A 1963 Guild Merle Travis guitar, one of reportedly only three produced
A Collection With Earned Battle Damage
Nielsen’s humor runs through the sale, but the charitable purpose underneath it is serious.
Nielsen’s decision connects to something more personal than storage space. His ties to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital run through his relationship with Danny and Marlo Thomas — a connection he has described as personally meaningful in ways that echo the broader rock history of the 60s, 70s, & 80s. That context makes the whole enterprise feel less like a liquidation and more like a considered act of generosity from someone who has been holding onto these pieces long enough.
Think of the scale like a streaming library nobody can actually play all the way through — 2,000 instruments being reduced to approximately 600, with 300-plus available to qualified bidders. You can participate in person, online, by phone, or through absentee bidding, with registration required at julienslive.com.
The auction begins at 10 a.m. Central Time at 401 Gay Street, Nashville. These guitars carry more than tonal history — they carry the memory of specific performances that shaped what Cheap Trick became.
